Consumer View: Women & Technology

Mar 01, 2006

By Marketresearch.com

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While not necessarily early adopters of technology, women appreciate its benefits.

Are women technophobes? Not necessarily, according to a new report from MarketResearch.com which relies heavily on data compiled by New York-based Simmons Market Research Bureau. The Simmons study, conducted in spring 2005, is based on 24,136 respondents ages 18 and over, representing a cross-section of the U.S. population. While the research suggests that women trail men as early adopters of technology (28.6 percent of women rate themselves as "far below average" vs. 18.3 percent of men), they appreciate technology's benefits. More than half of U.S. women and men agree they like to learn about computer technology and the Web.

That said, women are 13 percent less likely than adults on average, for example, to like the idea of digital television and 19 percent less likely to try to keep up with developments in technology. At the same time, the report reveals that DVD players and video games attract women (by far, Nintendo Gameboy Color was the fave brand of handheld video games for women).

Both women and men list the same Websites, in the same order, as the most popular Websites/ search engines visited in the last 30 days: Google, Yahoo!, Mapquest, eBay, and Amazon. Women are, however, significantly more likely than average to visit a number of Websites, including iVillage.comCoolSavings.com and AmericanGreetings.com.

As for shopping online, the report says nearly one-quarter of women (23.6 percent vs. 23.7 percent for men) report they are shopping more online. In the last 12 months, more women than men have shopped for personal attire, household goods, and gifts online. Women are significantly overrepresented in the under $150 purchase price range when shopping online in the last 12 months.